Vacation Access
Looking for an accessible vacation? Turns out that some
folks in the vacation industry are courting people with hearing loss by
providing access to the services they offer.
January 2002 - Interested in an accessible cruise? It
seems that not all cruise ships are the same. Here's one
cruiser's report on the Grand Princess.
April 2003 - Many tourist attractions offer assistive
listening devices or other forms of access for people with hearing loss.
Here's a report by
full-time RVer Jan Christensen.
May 2003 - Here are some thoughts
from Paula Rosenthal on how to get the most out of a trip to Disney
World. Note that many of the ideas apply to other tourist attractions as
well.
February 2010 - Expedia Includes Search
for Accessible Hotels
October 2010 -
Norwegian Cruise Lines Settles ADA Discrimination Suit
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January 2002
Editor: When I asked for reader responses to an article about
cruising, I expected to hear some stories of great accommodations and
some about "the cruise from hell". The two responses I got
were both very positive. It sounds like the cruise companies are really
working hard to provide a wonderful experience to their customers with
hearing loss. Here's how Carolyn Hass describes her experience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When we cruised on Grand Princess I decided to get all I could out of
the cruise. I knew my hearing husband would be out all day on "side
trips" when we docked (one was sailing boats that are used for
American Cup races!) and I would need emergency helps. We told the
Travel Agent that and she told us she'd send a message to the PURSER on
the ship about it.
I was told to go see the Purser when we boarded the ship. This was
less than a year ago, by the way. I told the Staff at the Purser office
what I needed.
Our Stateroom Attendant was so excited and pleased to help get the
assistive devices installed in the room! Then, when we two returned to
our room he was thrilled to demonstrate the devices to us. Real
cute....I showed my joy to him, too. I had not only a light (the room's
table lamp without shade) to blink off and on when anyone even touched
the door, but also, I had a vibrator under my pillow that indicated
someone was at the door.
The ringing of the phone would also light up that table lamp.
I had caption on our tv a lot of the time. There was no VCR available
so I didn't ask about videos.
It was so nice and helpful to have these various assistive devices in
my stateroom. I made sure I wrote about it all in several letters and
notes, etc. etc. Hopefully, all the Princess ships will be as excited as
our eager stateroom attendant to help install the devices!! I took a
picture of myself in the mirror with all the devices showing on that pic!
And I sent that pic in to Princess lines offices.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 2010
Expedia launched a set of new features that allows
customers to search for hotels based on whether or not they have
facilities for the deaf, blind, or mobility challenged (thanks to Gadling
for the heads up). There are lots of options to choose from, but finding
them is a little tricky. Once you've entered your destination and dates
and clicked "search," select "show more" under "hotel preferences" at the
top of the results page. This will produce a list of options, with
"accessibility options" in bold text at the bottom. Click this, choose the
options you want, and click "search." Options include Braille signage,
wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, roll-in showers, and accessibility
equipment for the deaf. Once you choose a hotel, you'll have to request a
room with the options you want. Expedia then contacts the hotel on the
traveler's behalf to make sure those options are available and guaranteed,
and finally confirms this with the travelers. If, for whatever reason, the
property can't promise availability, Expedia says it will work with the
traveler to find alternative accommodations.
Full
Story
